A day after three CPI (M) cadres were sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder of a party rebel, former CPI (M) Member of Parliament A P Abdullakutty alleged that party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had told a party meeting in 2008 that Kerala comrades should learn the West Bengal line of annihilating rivals.

Abdullakutty, who was sacked from the CPI (M) in 2009 on charges of praising Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s development models, is now a Congress legislator in Kerala. Abdullakutty now represents Kannur constituency in Assembly.

In an article published in Congress mouthpiece Veekshanam on Wednesday, Abdullakutty recalls an incident in 2008, when he was a CPI (M) MP from Kannur.

Referring to political violence in 2008, Abdullakutty talks about “an unforgettable intra-party experience” on the day the chief minister had convened an all-party peace meeting. Both CPI (M) and the BJP had lost five lives each in the violence in March, 20008.

He explains, “On March 5, 2008, a meeting was going on at CPI (M) district headquarters in Kannur under the leadership of Pinarayi Vijayan. All prominent party leaders, including the MPs and MLAs from the district, were present in the peace meeting, which was called to ensure that everybody adopts the party line. Before the meeting at the party office ended, then CPI (M) MP from Vatakara, P Sathidevi raised a grievance before Vijayan. Referring to how BJP MPs in Lok Sabha raised the gruesome violence issue in Kannur district, she said that Left MPs sat in the Parliament with their heads hanged in shame. BJP members had displayed flex boards showing gory images of the attacks. Sathidevi told Vijayan that this practice should be ended,’’ says Abdullakutty in his article.

A pensive Vijayan replied, “There is substance in what Sathi said. We should learn from Bengalis. Their action is without shedding a drop of blood. They would kidnap people and bury them in deep pits salt bag. The world would not know about blood, picture and news. I was shocked at hearing Vijayan’s reply,’’ says Abdullakutty.

Abudullakutty said he did continue in the party only for a few months since that incident. “This experience was one of the factor that I considered when I decided to quit the party.’’

“After returning to Delhi, I shared the experience with CPI (M) M P from Kottayam K Suresh Kurup, who also turned nervous. Later, when I met CPI (M) MP from Bengal Anil Basu in the central hall of the Parliament, I narrated the entire episode to him in the presence of Kurup. Basu told ‘you comrade, Bengal line is very simple. Your Kerala line is old barbarianism. In Bengal, not even a drop of blood would be shed. The outside world would not see even a bone.’’

Politics has changed a lot. The Bengal line has collapsed. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has brought out shocking incidents about Marxist violence. From the premises of the houses of former West Bengal minister Sushant Ghosh and his brother Prasant Ghosh, several human skeletons had been dug out using earth movers. The skeletons might have survived may be for want of enough salt.’’

“In the past, I did not have the courage to write this. But, the T P Chandrasekharan murder case verdict encouraged me to bring out the truth. It may be the police officers who probed it; or the judge who pronounced the verdict; or the public prosecutor who argued the case, the verdict in the Chandrasekharan murder case has given courage to people of Kannur, who stand for political peace,’’ says Abdullakutty in his article.